Pau Lopez does indeed exist and he's rather good

Signed on loan from Espanyol in the summer, the Spurs fans are yet to see Pau Lopez take part in a single minute of first team action.

Some fans have mocked it as pointless signing, but Mauricio Pochettino has always claimed the 22-year-old is one for the future, indicating perhaps that the club will likely make his deal a permanent one in the summer.

If anyone needed a reminder of the quality that made this young stopper an Espanyol first team regular despite his age - he was also named in the preliminary Spain squad for Euro 2016 - it came at the Lamex Stadium.

Read More

A loose ball deflected into the path of Sunderland's Joel Asoro in Spurs' penalty area and he smashed a powerful strike from eight yards, which deflected off Japhet Tanganga and looked a certain goal.

Yet there was Lopez diving full length and showing amazing reflexes to tip it away a split-second before it crept inside the left post.

His handling was good throughout the game and with rumours that Michel Vorm could move on this summer, he certainly seems to have the ability to step up a place in the pecking order behind Hugo Lloris.

Kazaiah Sterling scores the winning goal past Max Stryjek

Sterling showed his predatory instincts again

Kazaiah Sterling scored both of the goals that took Spurs' U18s past Norwich in the FA Youth Cup earlier this month and he again showed his predatory instincts with a goal for the U23s.

The game was just five minutes old when the 18-year-old robbed Sunderland goalkeeper Max Stryjek of the ball on the edge of his box before rolling it into the empty net.

Sterling was playing slightly wider than he was used to, out on the left, but he showed that he can still find the positions to bag a goal.

Read More

In the end it turned out to be the match-winning strike and he's showing he can change games for Spurs' youth sides and he will be hoping to do so again on Monday when the U18s travel to Newcastle for the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup.

Ugo Ehiogu went on the attack

Spurs lined up in a 4-3-3 formation which gave them plenty of options up front.

Sterling played on the left of the attacking trident, with Shayon Harrison on the right and Shilow Tracey in the central role.

With Sterling a more natural out and out striker, the move was seemingly made for development purposes.

Kazaiah Sterling celebrates his goal

It allowed Sterling to add more variety to his game in a wider role and tested Tracey's ability to perform in the central position. He showed some nice touches in both halves, but struggled to engineer many goalscoring opportunities for himself.

Shayon Harrison brought the experience to the trio, thanks to his current loan with Yeovil Town, with Zenon Stylianides, skipper Filip Lesniak and Joe Pritchard pulling the strings from midfield behind them.

Read More

The teenager certainly has talent although he is yet to hit a professional goal. He needs to add more power to his armoury and perhaps lacks that physical edge that the younger Sterling has to his game.

That will come though and the spell in League Two could be the making of Harrison as he comes up against much bigger defenders than he takes on in the development matches.

Pochettino expects his players to have that physical edge - something that impressed him most about Harry Winks' progression last summer - and Harrison will need that if he wants to cut it at the north London side.